Herald Palladium - 03/13/2016 Page : C01

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SUNDAY, March 13, 2016 The Herald-Palladium C1

SPORTS1 dog dead as alleged drunken snowmobile driver hits Iditarod teams

Page C6

More national exposure for LMC women’s basketball

Lake Michigan College will send a roster of mostly freshmen to the NJCAA Division II women’s basket-ball national tournament.

Coach Jason Cooper doesn’t feel like inexperi-ence will be a problem for his team, however — not after the Red Hawks won six overtime games, includ-ing an upset of Kalamazoo Valley in the district fi nal.

“Anything’s possible when you get in to a tourna-ment,” Cooper said. “The way that we have pulled off six overtime wins this year, this team has played tougher than being fresh-men. They’ve learned a lot through those battles. 

“They’re not afraid of the moment, and not be-ing afraid of the moment is half the battle.”

The 16-team tournament runs Tuesday through Sat-urday at Johnson Commu-nity College in Overland Park, Kan. Teams are guar-anteed at least two games, but a loss takes them out of the running for the national title. 

LMC is in the national tournament for the fi fth straight season and sixth in the past seven years.

“It’s amazing, the run that these young ladies have helped this program on,” Cooper said. “I’m amazed at their effort and dedica-tion to the program. We’re so excited. 

“We have an opportunity to make something special

By BEN SANDERSHP Sports Writer

Red Hawks qualify for championship tourney for 5th straight season

Don Campbell / HP staff See more photos:heraldpalladium.mycapture.com

Lake Michigan College’s Hailey Maas works the ball upcourt as Jackson College’s Paige Niciporek defends during a March 2 game. Lake Michigan College will participate in the NJCAA Divi-sion II women’s basketball national tournament this week.

First game1 p.m. Tuesday

No. 10 seed LMC vs. No. 7 seed North Iowa Area Community College

Saladin 2nd at state in 500 freestyle

Trayton Saladin fi nished second in the 500-yard free-style, helping the Bridgman co-op swimming team to a 14th place fi nish at the Di-vision 1 state fi nals at Hol-land Community Aquatic Center on Saturday.

Saladin, who won the event last season, fi nished with a time of 4:32.59. He was sixth in the 200 free-style at 1:42.9.

Parker Saladin placed fi fth in the 100 butterfl y (50.79) and 14th in the 200 individual medley (1:56.99).

Alex Kilgore was 15th in the 100 backstroke (54.22). The Saladin brothers, Kilgore and Erik Sriubas teamed up to fi nish 13th in the 200 medley relay (1:38.36).

Bridgman fi nished with 57 points. Birmingham Brother Rice won the state

title with 313.St. Joseph competed at

Saturday’s Division 3 state fi nals at Eastern Michigan University. The Bears fi n-ished 18th with 34 points. Cranbrook Kingswood was fi rst with 352.

Blaine Warmbein led the Bears with a sixth-place fi nish in the 100 butterfl y (52.03). Daniel Abbgy was 12th in the 100 freestyle (48.44) and 15th in the 50 freestyle (22.57).

All three St. Joseph relay teams fi nished in the top 16. The team of Warmbein, Abbgy, Hunter Bard and Eric Maddix fi nished 13th in the 200 free relay (1:31.2). 

Warmbein, Bard, Mad-dix and Joey Oberer placed  15th in the 200 medley relay (1:42.26). Warmbein, Abbgy, Ryan Faulkner and Logan Borah were 16th in the 400 free re-lay (3:24.72).

By HP STAFF

BOYS HIGH SCHOOL SWIMMING STATE FINALS

LAKE MICHIGAN ADMIRALS

Don Campbell / HP staff See more photos:heraldpalladium.mycapture.com

The Lake Michigan Admirals’ Anthony Brown fights for a rebound against the Grand Rapids Cyclones’ Ralph Monday during the first half of Saturday’s game.

Michael Conroy / AP

Michigan State forward Deyonta Davis dunks over Maryland forward Robert Carter in the first half of Saturday’s game.

No. 2 Spartans advance to Big Ten tourney final

INDIANAPOLIS — Denzel Val-entine had 18 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds to lead No. 2 Michi-gan State past No. 18 Maryland

64-61 in Saturday’s Big Ten Tournament semifi nal.

The league’s player of the year sealed it with two free throws with 0.8 seconds to

go, and Melo Trimble’s desperation heave from 55 feet away didn’t get past midcourt and was ruled to come after the buzzer anyway.

Michigan State (28-5) has won 12 of 13 and will face No. 13 Purdue in Sunday’s title game.

Robert Carter Jr. had 18 points and eight rebounds to lead Mary-

land. Trimble fi nished with 11 points.Despite making only two baskets

over the fi nal 10½ minutes, the Ter-rapins still could have taken the lead after Valentine missed the front end of a one-and-one.

Trimble drove in for a layup, but the shot appeared to be defl ected and Valentine grabbed the rebound and was immediately fouled.

It was a rugged game right from the start.

On the fi rst basket, Maryland’s Jake Layman got hit in the face and

By MICHAEL MAROT AP Sports Writer

Commanding win

ST. JOSEPH — The Lake Michi-gan Admirals took command early Saturday night, leading by as many as 38 points in defeating  the Grand Rapids Cyclones 116-81.

“The guys have re-ally started to come together, started to play well together now,” Lake Michigan coach Michael “Ace” Jackson said. “Guys

have really started to jell.”The win was the fourth in a row for

the Admirals, who now sit in second place in the PBL Midwest division.

The Admirals (7-5) controlled nearly every aspect of the game, shooting 51.2 percent from the fl oor and outrebounding Grand Rapids 63-50.

By ADAM KARNIKHP Sports Writer

Admirals have no problems in victory over Cyclones

The Lake Michigan Admirals’ Anthony

Spencer tries to drive past Grand Rapids’ Dejuan

Jefferson, left and Darian Carthan.

Don Campbell / HP staff

See SPARTANS, page C4

Michigan St.

64Maryland

61

Inside Michigan falls to Purdue, now waits

for its NCAA tourney fate PAGE C2

See RED HAWKS, page C3

Lake Michigan

116Grand Rapids

81

See ADMIRALS, page C3

Herald Palladium - 03/13/2016 Page : C03

Copyright (c)2016 The Herald-Palladium 03/13/2016March 14, 2016 9:36 am (GMT +4:00) Powered by TECNAVIA

The Herald-Palladium SPORTS SUNDAY, March 13, 2016 – C3

LOCAL SPORTS CALENDAR

Jaier Futbol Club

Supplemental registrations: Spring 2016 supplemental registra-tions are being accepted for U10-U14 girls and and U10-U11 boys teams. Jaier is a travel soccer club where home games and all practices are held at Benton Charter Township River Park. Register at www.jaiersoc-cer.org or email jaierregistrars@gmail.com.

Bowl for Kids’ Sake

Big Brothers Big Sisters Bowl for Kids’ Sake fundraiser: 1-3 p.m. April 24, Joey Armadillo’s in Niles; 7-9 p.m. May 6 at Kelley’s Bowl, St. Joseph. Call Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ber-rien and Cass at 269-684-1100 to receive forms for a team and to start collecting pledges. Businesses wish-ing to sponsor the event and volun-

teers who would like to help out on the bowling dates are also encour-aged to call for more information.

Coloma Youth Baseball-Softball Association

Bean bag tournament fundraiser: 2 p.m. April 2, Chief’s Bar and Grill, Millburg. Cost is $40 per two-person team. First place team wins $100. Call Cande Rutherford at 208-9392 or Maryea Cole at 757-3612 for more information.

Youth softball tournament: April 22-24 (rain dates April 29-May 1). Girls ages 6-14 as of Jan. 1, 2016. Register by April 16. Cost is $150 per team; $175 April 17 and after, and no guarantee of availability. Regular sea-son teams only, 8U and 10U pitching machine, 12U live pitch. For more information or to register, call Maryea Cole at 757-3612 or email mcole2801@aol.com.

Benton Harbor-St. Joseph YMCA

Open pickleball: 10 a.m.-noon Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays. Cost is $5, free for members. 

Open adult basketball (ages 18+): Noon-1 p.m. Thursdays; 6-8:30 p.m. Fridays, 6:30-8:30 pm. Cost is $5, free for members. For more informa-tion call 428-YMCA or go online to www.bhsjymca.org.

Pickleball

Pickleball classes: St. Joseph Catholic School in Watervliet is hold-ing pickleball classes from 7-9 p.m. on Thursdays. Classes are for begin-ners, to learn the game and develop skills in a fun, less-competitive envi-ronment. Paddles are provided. Clean gym or court shoes should be worn. There is no cost, but donations toward use of the gym are accepted. From 7-9 p.m. Tuesdays, there will be

open play for all skill levels. Youth over age 12 are welcome, but under 16 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. For more information, call Jim Hogue at 468-4639. 

St. Joseph Junior Foundation

Sailing classes: Registration for summer sailing classes is now avail-able. Youth Session 1 is from June 13-30. Session 2 is from July 4-21. Session 3 is from July 25-Aug. 11. Youth team sailing is Fridays June 17-Aug. 9. Adult sailing classes are Tuesday evenings June 14-Aug. 9. Sessions also available at Paw Paw Lake, July 11-15 and July 18-22. For more information, go online to www.sjjf.org.

Running events

Sarett Spring Stampede: 9 a.m. April 9 at Sarett Nature Center. 5K run/walk on Sarett’s nature trails.

Cost is $20 before April 7, $25 on race day. Kids’ 1-mile fun run at 8:30 a.m., cost is $1 and all participants will receive a finisher’s ribbon. For more information or to register online, go to www.sarett.com. 

2016 Race for YMCA 5K-10K pre-sented by Chemical Bank: 8 a.m. July 16, Margaret Upton Arboretum, St. Joseph. Cost is $20 for adults before race day, $15 for ages 14 and under. Register online at runsignup.com/chemicalbankraceforymca.

Golf outings

Coloma Youth Baseball-Softball Association: May 7, Paw Paw Lake. Register at 8 a.m. Foursome scram-ble format, $60 per person includes cart and lunch. 

The local sports calendar appears twice week-ly in The Herald-Palladium. Submit items for the local sports calendar to sports@TheHP.com or fax to 429-4392.

By HP STAFF

happen.”LMC is seeded 10th, and

opens against No. 7 seed North Iowa Area Com-munity College at 1 p.m. EDT Tuesday. The Trojans average nearly 10 3-pointers made per game.

“They’re a very strong program,” Cooper said. “They’re an offense-dom-inated, 3-point shooting program. They lead the country in 3-point makes and attempts. Very tough opponent to prepare for. We have to be ready to de-fend the 3-point line and still worry about penetra-tion to the basket.”

LMC has lots of fire-

power of its own. Guard Hailey Maas  is averaging 20.9 points, 7.1 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game, leading the Red Hawks in all three categories. Guard Kelsee Kinder scores 16.5 points per game. 

“Hailey Maas has been our backbone of our team this year,” Cooper said. “She’s just battled tremen-dously, being a focus of other team’s defenses.

“Kinder is a spark-plug.  She can change a game and open up a game very quickly with transition baskets.”

Cooper said it’s impor-tant for the team to have a third scorer, but who that player is varies from game to game. Tammy Lee is av-eraging 10 points per game,

Shannon Dingman 9.7, and Dennee Brown 7.8.

The Red Hawks are un-dersized, but have still been an excellent rebound-ing team this season, out-rebounding opponents by an average of more than 18 per game.

“Our main goal is we try to play bigger than what we are,” Cooper said. “To do that, you have to mix up your defenses, look at advantages you might have and capitalize on opportu-nities you have from the op-ponent’s defense.

“Being a smaller team, there are some disadvan-tages, but there are advan-tages of other teams having to guard us.”  

Contact: bsanders@TheHP.com, 932-0366, @HPBenSanders

BOYS HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL REGIONALSMonday semifinals

Class B at Battle Creek Harper Creek

South Haven vs. Three Rivers, 6

Lakeshore vs. Marshall, 7:30

Class C at Gobles

Constantine vs. Kal. Hackett, 6

Brandywine vs. Homer, 7:30

Class D at Portage Northern

Howardsville Christian vs. Wyoming Tri-unity Christian, 6

Countryside vs. Kal. Phoenix, 7:30

All finals Wednesday.

Don Campbell / HP staff See more photos: heraldpalladium.mycapture.com

The Lake Michigan Admirals’ Darren Goodson puts up a shot over the Grand Rapids Cyclones’ Anthony Calhoun during the first half of Saturday’s game.

RED HAWKSFrom page C1

Bears agree to 3-year deal with LB Freeman

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — The Chicago Bears added another inside linebacker to their defense Saturday, agreeing to a three-year contract with Jerrell Free-man.

The deal with the former Indianapolis Colts player comes three days after the signing of Danny Treva-than. The moves address one of the Bears’ biggest needs and give them two new starters.

The Bears also agreed to a two-year contract with defensive lineman Mitch Unrein and a one-year deal with receiver and return specialist Marc Mariani.

The 29-year-old Free-man started all 57 games he played in the past four seasons with Indianapolis after spending three years with the CFL’s Saskatch-ewan Roughriders.

Since entering the NFL in 2012, he is tied for sixth in tackles. He led the Colts in defensive tackles in 2012 and ‘13 and ranked second in 2014 and ‘15.

Freeman is known for his athleticism, and the Bears will be counting on that as they try to become a con-tender after finishing last in the NFC North at 6-10. They showed some progress in their first season under coach John Fox and gener-al manager Ryan Pace but missed the playoffs for the eighth time in nine years.

“I wasn’t really worried about the Bears’ record,” Freeman said. “I was just looking at the pieces. And I can tell the pieces are there. I was definitely interested in Chicago from the start.”

Freeman heard good things about coach John Fox from several former teammates, particularly Colts safety and former Bronco Mike Adams. Fox also impressed Freeman when the Bears and Colts practiced together in India-napolis last August before their preseason game, and the front office and coaches made another strong im-pression during their free-agency pitch.

One of Chicago’s biggest areas of concern this offsea-son was at inside linebacker

after former first-round pick Shea McClellin and Christian Jones struggled. Jonathan Anderson and John Timu got more play-ing time as the season wore on, but they made little im-pact.

Freeman said the Colts made it clear they weren’t going to re-sign him, that they basically told him, “Good luck in free agency.”

“It’s a business and I guess they have other peo-ple they need to take care of. I know they’ve got An-drew (Luck) coming up,” he said. “It’s a business, and I understand. From that perspective, there’s no hard feelings there. I understand they’ve got to do what’s best for their team.”

Unrein appeared in 16 games last season — two for San Diego and 14 for Chi-cago — and finished with 33 tackles. He played for Den-ver from 2011 to 2014.

Mariani is returning for his third season with the Bears. He had 22 recep-tions for 300 yards, 29 punt returns for 192 yards and 16 kickoff returns for 418 yards last year.

By ANDREW SELIGMAN AP Sports Writer

Browns release troubled QB ManzielCLEVELAND (AP) —

Johnny Football has been tossed aside.

Quarterback Johnny Manziel, the scrambling, Heisman Trophy-winning college star who hasn’t come close to matching his hype in the NFL, was re-leased Friday by the Cleve-land Browns following two turbulent and troubling seasons.

Manziel’s unceremonious exit — the team sent out a brief statement with a few stats and no comment — ends a drama-filled stay in Cleveland for the 23-year-

old, who faces an uncertain future on and off the field. For the first time since he started throwing a football as a kid while growing up in Texas, Manziel isn’t a want-ed player and he’s contend-ing with possible criminal charges for a recent domes-tic incident in which his ex-girlfriend claimed he struck and threatened to kill her.

The Browns drafted Manziel in the first round in 2014, hoping he could not only be their long-term solution at quarterback but revive a sluggish franchise.

Instead, he was a two-

year headache that wouldn’t go away.

While he was with the Browns hardly a week passed without there being a photo or video of Man-ziel, usually with a drink in his hand, out having a good time.

But he paid for all those late nights in bars and clubs as Manziel hasn’t devel-oped the work ethic needed to succeed and he wound up spending more than 10 weeks following his rookie season in a Pennsylvania rehab facility specializing in alcohol and drug abuse.

“We’re starting to recog-nize what we need to do, working inside out and it’s starting to work for us,” Jackson said.

On the other side, Grand Rapids (0-6) was held to just 29 percent shooting on the night.

“Lake Michigan is a very good team and you can’t make mistakes against a team like that,” said Grand Rapids coach David Fox. “I don’t think our guys ever got into a rhythm and when you’re down and missing layups and free throws it’s hard to come back. Again, Lake Michi-gan is a very good team, they’ve got a lot of tall guys and when they close out it makes a difference.”

Stan Simpson was the leader for Lake Michigan, taking advantage of his 6-foot-10 frame with 24 points to lead all scorers and 10 rebounds.

“Nobody was big enough to take me so I said I might as well dominate down low tonight,” Simpson said. “Nobody over there was bigger than 6-foot-6 so it was my duty to control the paint.”

Anthony Spencer was next with 23 points and four assists.

The winning streak comes at the perfect time for the Admirals.

Their next three games are against two teams they are fighting for playoff seeding, the Indianapolis Diesels and the division-leading Kentucky Maver-icks, who they’ll see twice in a row.

“We’re solidly in second

and that gives us a chance to push forward,” Jackson said. “We’re trying to focus game by game but in the back of our minds we’re seeing Kentucky.”

LAKE MICHIGAN ADMIRALS 116, GRAND RAPIDS CYCLONES 81

GRAND RAPIDS (81)Otis Bailey 1 0-2 3, Maurice Benson 1 1-2 4, Marcus Macallister 4 1-1 10, Aaron Harris 0 1-2 1, Marcus Smith 4 2-3 10, Rupert Rose 1 0-0 2, Ralph Monday 7 2-3 16, Dejuan Jefferson 7 5-6 21, Darian Carthan 2 2-4 6, Anthony Calhoun 4 0-4 8. Totals: 29 14-27 81

LAKE MICHIGAN (116)Stan Simpson 10 4-7 24, Odgra Bobo 2 0-0 5, Anthony Spencer 10 1-3 23, Ian Walcott 2 2-2 6, Marlin Mason 3 3-4 9, Kareem Storey 3 0-0 8, Anthony Brown 5 1-2 12, Andrew Christen 6 0-0 15, Darren Goodson 7 0-0 14. Totals: 48 11-18 116Grand Rapids 23 21 18 19 — 81Lake Michigan 34 27 28 27 — 1163-point goals — Grand Rapids 3 (Bailey, Benson, Macallister), Lake Michigan 9 (Christen 3, Spencer 2, Storey 2, Bobo, Brown). Total fouls — Grand Rapids 17, Lake Michigan 25. Fouled out — none. Technical fouls — none. Rebounds — Grand Rapids 50 (Monday 12), Lake Michigan 63 (Mason 12, Simpson 10). Assists — Grand Rapids 5, Lake Michigan 24 (Spencer 4, Goodson 4). Turnovers — Grand Rapids 18, Lake Michigan 20. Records — Grand Rapids 0-6, Lake Michigan 7-5

ADMIRALSFrom page C1

Don Campbell / HP staff

The Lake Michigan Admirals’ Stan Simpson shoots over the Grand Rapids Cyclones’ Ralph Monday during the first half of Saturday’s game.